Basking in the gentle sunlight,

the Golden Dragon soared high in the sky, its wings slicing through the clouds like blades, shredding them to pieces.

Its massive form cast a shadow over the ocean below, and within the dragon-shaped silhouette, sea creatures sensed an elusive but dangerous Dragon Might and panicked, diving deep into the sea.

Even without pushing to full speed, Saga’s flight quickly brought him near the waters of the three duchies led by the Tevel Duchy.

While the islands sprawled across the sea like slumbering beasts,

the combined armies of the three duchies were already in formation, awaiting his approach.

Just as when the allied forces had set out to subdue the Grayrock Archipelago, the monstrous legions now stood ready.

The unmasked presence of the colossal Golden Dragon appeared on the horizon. Though still a speck in their vision, the soldiers of the tri-duchy legion fell into deep alertness at first sight.

Among these soldiers, many had faced defeat in the Near Seas war and had already felt the terrifying might of Saga, casting a deep shadow over their hearts.

As for those who hadn’t partaken in the Near Seas war and were facing Saga for the first time, they had heard of the King of the Near Seas’ terror from their comrades and had a sense of his formidable strength from various projections and briefings.

Whoosh!

Before his arrival, a fierce wind heralded his approach.

The sea grew tumultuous, the wind caressing each soldier’s face, heightening their vigilance and fear.

Commanding the tri-duchy legion was still the ninth-tier powerhouse from the Tevel Duchy.

Soul Warrior—Daniel.

A rare and unique branch among the warrior’s path.

All Soul Warriors possessed exceptionally strong souls and used special methods to forge part of their soul into a tangible weapon. Due to the differences in soul will, each Soul Warrior’s weapon was unique, with swords, spears, and armor being common, but some took the form of rocks and plants, possessing special effects.

At the helm of a magical ship,

the Soul Warrior commander stood resolute, gazing at the Golden Dragon on the horizon and the five-nation army that was faintly visible in the distance.

At this moment, Saga was leisurely hovering mid-air, looking towards the tri-duchy legion.

Compared to the five-nation legion that was closely following him and would soon arrive, the tri-duchy legion was noticeably smaller in number and scale. The only noteworthy opponents were the ninth-tier commander and another ordinary ninth-tier warrior.

Among the Near Seas nations, there were four known ninth-tier warriors.

Two of them, the commander of the curse magic and the Shield Knight, who had already perished at Saga’s hands, were not from the same country; they belonged to the Tevel Duchy and another duchy now under Saga’s control.

The remaining two ninth-tier warriors included one from the Tevel Duchy and another from a duchy that opposed Saga.

Saga’s gaze crossed the unobstructed expanse of sky, quietly assessing the two ninth-tier beings.

According to intelligence, one of them, clad in armor and bearing a long spear, was just an ordinary ninth-tier warrior, the weakest among the four. Saga glanced at him briefly before turning his attention to the other ninth-tier presence.

That is, the commander of the tri-duchy legion, the Soul Warrior Daniel.

The Soul Warrior commander had a lean and upright figure, silent in the wind like a sturdy pine. He wore no armor or swords, his upper body bare, and his lower body clad in simple black trousers. Notably, on his bare upper body, two chains of contrasting black and white wrapped around his arms, emitting a faint glow, quite extraordinary.

The black chain was thicker, exuding a sense of hardness and weight.

The white chain was finer, with spear-like sharp tips at both ends.

These were the Soul Warrior commander’s soul weapons, known as the Black and White Soul Chains.

The black chain focused on defense, the white on offense. Combined, the Black and White Soul Chains were well-known in the Near Seas for their balanced attack and defense.

The Soul Warrior commander silently watched the dragon in the sky, wordless.

Time gradually passed.

Soon, the five-nation legion arrived, appearing under the shadow of the Golden Dragon.

Under the dragon’s wings, the Dimensionist wore a complex expression, looking towards the Wind Caster among the tri-duchy legion.

The two high-tier Casters, who had once fought side by side, now stood on opposing sides, a shift in circumstances neither had anticipated.

At this moment, a powerful ninth-tier Caster from the five-nation legion stepped forward.

“All shall submit to the Emperor Dragon.”

“I offer you one final chance. Surrender now, cease your resistance, and swear fealty to the mighty Emperor Dragon, and you shall have a brighter future rather than a grave beneath the sea.”

This was a shapeshifting Caster from the Quel Duchy, a hidden ninth-tier powerhouse and the direct brother of Duke Quel.

In a world where individuals wield great power,

those who rule over lands have their own trump cards, without which they would lack the right to rule.

Many rulers may not possess great strength themselves,

but they are backed by forces capable of suppressing rebellion.

For instance, Duke Quel and his brother, the Transcendent talent, managed the duchy, providing resources for the shapeshifter’s cultivation, while the powerful individual focused on strengthening himself, deterring the ambitious.

Many nations had similar arrangements.

However, there were also rulers who governed their lands and were the strongest in their nation.

For example, the emperor of the Skyrealm Empire was an undisputed demigod Wind Caster.

At the same time, the Soul Warrior commander’s expression changed slightly, anger flashing in his eyes.

“It’s shameful for a human to hide from the fight against the Evil Dragon, only to stand against their own kind after submitting to it.”

The Soul Warrior commander spoke solemnly.

All Soul Warriors possessed unwavering spiritual will, or rather, stubbornness. This commander would never pledge allegiance to a different species.

The reason he hadn’t appeared during the Near Seas nations’ campaign against Saga was that Casters were more suited to lead the vast allied forces, and it was necessary to keep strong warriors within the country. It wouldn’t do to leave the nation defenseless for a single campaign. Now, facing the King of the Near Seas at their doorstep, the Soul Warrior commander stepped forward.

“Victory crowns the king, defeat brands the outlaw.”

“Don’t you understand such a simple truth?”

“Daniel, I’ve heard of your Black and White Soul Chains, excellent weapons of the soul. Let me test their mettle.”

Following Saga’s signal, the five-nation legion’s shapeshifting commander ordered a massive advance towards their opponents.

Once within attack range,

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The magical ships of both sides activated their war machines, bombarding each other with ferocious volleys.

The shields of the magical ships lit up, bearing the brunt of the elemental cannon fire, shining with dazzling brilliance.

The calm sea surface instantly boiled over.

The sky, once clear, grew dark with the violent elemental turbulence, clouds gathering from all directions. Although it didn’t rain, thunder roared incessantly, and the accompanying gale whipped up thousands of waves.

The Golden Dragon remained leisurely in the sky, stationary, watching the war among the human legions below, not directly intervening, as if merely a bystander.

Meanwhile,

the shapeshifting Caster chanted complex and arcane incantations.

Countless magical runes twisted and swirled around him, and as the final syllable fell, he waved his staff towards a magical ship.

Advanced Dissection Spell!

Without any grand display of light or sound, the eerie spell effect silently penetrated the ship’s shield, enveloping the soldiers on board.

Then, a gruesome scene unfolded.

Hiss, hiss, hiss!

Amidst the terrified screams of the soldiers, it was as if scalpels traced across their bodies, peeling off their skin intact, followed by chunks of muscle tissue, and complete organs. In an instant, the living were reduced to twitching piles of flesh and organs.

All shapeshifting Casters studied how to transform a creature or object into something else.

Their familiarity with the physical body often rivaled that of Necromancers.

In an instant, the entire magical ship became a hell on earth, bypassing the magical shield.

The ninth-tier shapeshifter didn’t stop, continuing to whisper, constructing a new spell.

“Damn you.”

On the other side, the Soul Warrior commander glanced at the dragon overseeing the battlefield from the horizon, hesitated, then suppressed the urge to strike and ordered the ninth-tier warrior to contain the shapeshifter.

A high-tier Caster unaffected by any interference and free to construct spells was a nightmare for all enemy forces on the battlefield.

The ninth-tier warrior leaped from the magical ship and ran across the tumultuous sea as if on flat ground. Weaving through the relentless elemental cannon fire, he closed in on the shapeshifter’s ship and leaped with force.

His body twisted, his spear sweeping across the ship’s shield.

Crack!

Under the powerful blow of the ninth-tier warrior, the magical ship’s shield, capable of defending against high-level attacks, shattered like glass.

The spear tip glinted with a piercing cold light as the ninth-tier warrior thrust like a dragon, aiming for the shapeshifter.

Boom!

The area where the shapeshifter stood collapsed, the shockwave repelling the soldiers rushing to his aid.

“Not good, protect the Caster!”

Two high-tier warriors rushed in, concerned for the shapeshifter’s safety.

For a Caster, being approached by a warrior was not a good sign.

However, the shapeshifter was an exception.

Boom!

A thunderous sound erupted, the shockwave causing the surrounding soldiers to lose their footing and stumble.

The ninth-tier warrior’s face tightened as he was sent flying backward.

Opposite him, a massive figure emerged.

It was a monstrous half-human, half-snake creature, with a twenty-meter-long serpentine lower body and a muscular humanoid upper body, six arms on each side, bulging with muscles and veins.

Ninth Circle Shapeshifting Spell—Six-Armed Serpent Demon Transformation!

The Six-Armed Serpent Demon roared and lunged at the ninth-tier warrior, then both left the ship, entangling in the surging waves.

As the two ninth-tier beings fought,

numerous seventh and eighth-tier units also clashed.

The five-nation legion had a clear advantage in both high and mid-tier forces, dominating the battle.

At the same time, the Dimensionist and Wind Caster locked eyes, each choosing the other as their opponent, but neither used their full strength, casually exchanging mid-tier spells.

The two Casters knew each other well and were both slacking off.

However, the eighth-tier Wind Caster slacking off meant he was letting things slide.

The Soul Warrior commander saw this and was deeply dissatisfied, but had nothing to say.

Casters held high status, and that eighth-tier Wind Caster had studied in the Skyrealm Empire’s Sky City and had many connections there, making him difficult to provoke.

Time continued to pass.

The war between the two sides escalated.

The five-nation legion was overtly stronger, completely overpowering the tri-duchy legion.

The ninth-tier shapeshifter was far more powerful than an ordinary ninth-tier warrior. During the duration of the Six-Armed Serpent Demon Transformation, the tri-duchy legion’s ninth-tier warrior suffered repeated injuries, now bloodied and in a sorry state, barely able to fend off the shapeshifter’s magical attacks.

As the only high-tier advantage on the tri-duchy side,

the Soul Warrior commander could no longer stand by and watch his soldiers suffer heavy losses. He joined the battle.

Swoosh!

The white chain, swift as lightning, pierced through the spray of water droplets, aiming straight for the shapeshifter’s head.

The shapeshifter’s body suddenly split into pieces without a drop of blood, avoiding the white chain’s attack and quickly reassembling.

Glancing at the dragon in the sky, the Soul Warrior commander took a deep breath and, along with the ninth-tier warrior, surrounded the shapeshifter.

Facing two of the same tier, the previously dominant shapeshifter was now in trouble.

But he was slippery; sometimes he became a bird soaring into the sky, sometimes a fish diving into the sea. Although in a dire situation, he wouldn’t be killed in a short time.

At that moment,

Saga shook his neck, looking down at the intense battle below, slowly losing interest in watching.

He raised his head, gazing towards a massive island in the distance behind the battlefield, which was Starfall Island, governed by the Tevel Duchy. After a few more glances at the battle below, Saga withdrew his gaze, then flapped his dragon wings, crossing the war zone and flying directly towards Starfall Island.

Bringing the five-nation legion was mainly to rid himself of the nuisance of the lesser forces, miring the opposition’s defenses in a quagmire, allowing him to reign over Starfall Island unimpeded.

For the three defiant duchies, Saga didn’t plan to pick off the weaker ones one by one, which he found rather troublesome. Instead, he aimed to shatter the resistance of the Tevel Duchy, the backbone of the three, first. The remaining two ordinary duchies would crumble without a fight.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Almost the moment Saga moved,

the Soul Warrior commander, who had been partially monitoring Saga, immediately abandoned his attack on the shapeshifter, leaving the battlefield to the ninth-tier warrior, and soared alone, crossing the airspace where the Winged Tiger Knights and Black Eagle Knights were engaged, heading straight for the Golden Dragon.

Saga’s gaze shifted slightly, looking at the tiny human flying towards him.

“Want to cross the line and reach my territory? You’ll have to step over my dead body.”

The Soul Warrior commander roared, flinging his arms.

In an instant, the black and white chains extended seemingly endlessly, intertwining and spinning rapidly to form a massive black and white vortex, swelling and engulfing the Golden Dragon.

In the face of the attack, Saga lifted his eyelids slightly.

“Then, insignificant human, as you wish.”

He opened his mouth and exhaled an Electromagnetic Pulse Dragon Breath.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Under the dragon breath’s sweep, the black chains writhed like living snakes to the outer layer, showing an indestructible texture. Despite trembling and cracking, they did not break.

The Soul Warrior’s weapon, a part of his soul, was immune to most attacks.

Saga’s dragon breath, capable of destroying mountains, failed to shatter the ninth-tier Soul Warrior’s soul weapon.

The black and white vortex expanded, like a monstrous maw resisting the dragon breath, engulfing the Golden Dragon’s form.

“It’s nothing more than that.”

The Soul Warrior commander’s eyes brightened, then his expression turned solemn as he controlled his chains to strangle Saga.

Clang, clang, clang. Centered around Saga’s body, a black chain sphere with a diameter of tens of meters formed, and within the sturdy prison of black chains, the silhouette of the Golden Dragon was faintly visible, with countless white chains striking the dragon’s body like lightning.

However, the countless fierce strikes failed to breach the Golden Emperor Dragon’s defenses.

Saga shook his head in disappointment, his gaze piercing through the chain gaps to the Soul Warrior commander behind, whispering, “It’s my first encounter with a Soul Warrior, and I thought you might have something special.”

“Yet, you can’t even scratch me.”

The ninth-tier’s attack on the eighth-tier was not enough to break Saga’s deflection force field, merely causing him to expend some Power Essence, leaving him unscathed, not even a hair out of place.

“What a terrifying defense.”

The Soul Warrior commander’s eyelids twitched. Although he knew of the King of the Near Seas’ terrifying force field, facing it firsthand, his all-out effort was met with the opponent unharmed, enough to shake even the most resolute heart.

Huff. The Soul Warrior commander took a deep breath, his spirit firming once more.

As a Soul Warrior, the stronger the will, the more powerful the weapon’s effect.

“King of the Near Seas, don’t be smug.”

“Even if I can’t injure you, you won’t escape my Soul Lock Vortex before my soul power is exhausted!”

The Soul Warrior commander changed tactics.

The attack aimed at strangulation became a siege.

Instantly, under the commander’s will, all the white chains thickened, transforming into black chains with strong defensive effects, weaving into an even more impenetrable chain prison.

Inside the prison, the Golden Dragon raised an eyebrow.

“Should I call you naive, or foolish?”

Saga’s whisper resonated directly in the Soul Warrior commander’s mind.

The commander paused for a moment.

Simultaneously, on the three pairs of majestic dragon horns of the Golden Emperor Dragon, countless arcs of electricity sparked, then the sizzling sound quickly turned into thunderous roars.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Thick bolts of lightning, like serpents and dragons, danced around the Golden Emperor Dragon’s body and spread over each black chain, enveloping them completely.

Then,

the Soul Warrior commander convulsed as if struck by lightning, his body uncontrollably trembling despite the distance.

The black chain prison that had contained Saga, which had withstood the electromagnetic dragon breath without shattering, melted rapidly in the face of the artificially created electromagnetic thunder, like snow meeting fire, dissolving in the blinding electric light.

In Saga’s view, the path of the Soul Warrior was similar to the psychic warriors he had encountered before.

Only more extreme, they used most of their soul energy to create and enhance their soul weapons.

The Soul Warrior commander’s Black and White Chains contained a very tenacious special form of materialized psychic energy, making most attacks ineffective, his foundation.

However, Saga’s electromagnetic force specialized in consuming psychic energy.

Any Mind Warlock, Frenzied Thinker, Psychic Warrior, or paths like the Soul Warrior that used soul, mind, and spirit to materialize psychic energy were like mice before a cat in Saga’s presence, targeted and helpless.

At the same time, as the soul weapon was destroyed, the Soul Warrior commander also suffered a severe blow.

His body showed no change, but his soul weakened, his spirit listless.

The soul weapon was a double-edged sword.

On one hand, it was special and powerful, allowing Soul Warriors to wield formidable skills.

On the other hand, if the soul weapon was destroyed, the Soul Warrior would be severely injured.

Normally, in a battle of the same tier, it was nearly impossible to destroy a soul weapon, let alone by someone of a higher tier. The path of the Soul Warrior was special and powerful, with few warriors possessing the talent to forge and materialize their soul into a weapon.

Unfortunately, he faced Saga.

The black chain prison had melted away.

The Golden Emperor Dragon, calm in demeanor, reappeared in the sunlight.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

With a thought from Saga, dark clouds gathered, and thunderbolts fell.

The Soul Warrior commander barely managed to manifest black chains around himself for defense, but the result was the same as before—the black chains dissolved almost instantly under the bombardment of the unnatural electromagnetic thunder.

Several thunderbolts broke through the black chains, and more engulfed the Soul Warrior commander.

Quickly,

a a charred figure, devoid of life’s breath, plummeted into the vast ocean.

The Soul Warrior commander, fallen.

Already at a disadvantage, the morale of the tri-duchy legion plummeted further, beaten down by the five-nation legion brought by Saga.

Then, no longer concerned with the outcome of the battle here, the Golden Dragon flapped its wings, stirring gusts of wind, its massive body tearing through the clouds and shattering the sunlight, soaring towards Starfall Island.

At full speed,

the Golden Emperor Dragon soon appeared in the skies over Starfall Island, casting a lofty gaze downward.

What unfolded before Saga was an island as large as two West Asia islands combined, with man-made structures densely packed together.

Additionally, a semi-transparent pale blue dome of energy, faintly visible, enveloped the entire island.

Unlike ordinary duchies, the Tevel Duchy’s architecture was more opulent and towering, with magical traces everywhere, indicating deep heritage, and it even possessed a national protective formation.